Tess Johnson's journey toward her second Olympic appearance has been a testament to resilience, family legacy, and the unwavering pursuit of a dream. When she first competed in Pyeongchang in 2018, she was just 17 years old—a teenager thrust onto sport's grandest stage, representing the United States in the demanding discipline of moguls skiing. The years that followed would test her physical limits and mental fortitude in ways she never anticipated. Missing the Beijing Winter Games in 2022 delivered a devastating blow to her athletic aspirations, and a chronically injured herniated disc in her spine threatened to permanently derail her career. Yet after undergoing complex spinal surgery in April 2023, Johnson defied medical expectations by returning to elite competition just seven months later. Now 25 years old, she stands poised to reclaim her place among the world's best at the upcoming Winter Olympics, carrying with her a perspective shaped by both triumph and adversity.
Embracing the Olympic Pressure
Johnson approaches her return to the Games with a maturity that only experience—and hardship—can forge. "I acknowledge the gravity of competing at the Olympics, and that is the pinnacle of sport," she explains. Her debut in Pyeongchang taught her a crucial lesson about mental preparation that many athletes never fully grasp: resisting the overwhelming magnitude of the Olympic moment only amplifies its power to intimidate. Rather than pushing away thoughts about the Games' intensity or trying to minimize their significance, she has learned to embrace these feelings completely.
This mental evolution represents a fundamental shift in her competitive philosophy. Where once she might have viewed the pressure as an obstacle to overcome, she now recognizes it as the very ingredient that creates transcendent athletic achievements. The same force that can crush an unprepared athlete becomes fuel for those who learn to channel it effectively. Johnson's wisdom lies in understanding that greatness isn't born from comfort, but from leaning into discomfort and allowing it to sharpen focus rather than scatter it. This approach transforms the Olympic experience from a terrifying trial into an opportunity for peak performance.
Foundations in Vail
The roots of Johnson's success run deep into the mountain soil of Vail, Colorado, where her destiny seemed written in powder and perseverance. Both parents dedicated their professional lives to the alpine environment—her mother as a ski instructor, her father as a ski patroller. They placed her on skis at the remarkably young age of two, introducing her to the sport that would become her life's calling. Her older sister and younger brother followed the same snowy path, transforming skiing from a recreational activity into the family's shared language and primary bond.
By age eight or nine, young Tess announced her desire to compete, a declaration that would reshape her family's relationship with the sport forever. Her mother enrolled her in Vail's renowned "bumps and jumps" program, launching a competitive career that would eventually lead to Olympic glory. What began as childhood enthusiasm evolved into teenage dedication and ultimately professional excellence. The early start provided not just technical skill but an intuitive understanding of mountain dynamics that can't be taught later in life.
Life Beyond the Resort Image
What outsiders frequently misunderstand about Vail is the authentic community that exists beneath its world-famous resort facade. Beyond the luxury hotels and tourist attractions lies a genuine small town where children play soccer in spring and fall, neighbors maintain decades-long friendships, and the spectacular mountain setting becomes simply "home." While visitors experience a winter wonderland, residents inhabit a tight-knit community where relationships and shared values matter more than postcard-perfect views.
For Johnson, Vail represents both the magical destination the world imagines and the grounded community that shaped her character and values. "It's got a very local feel to it if you did grow up there and spend some real time there," she notes. This dual perspective—seeing Vail as both extraordinary ski destination and ordinary hometown—has given her a balanced worldview that serves her well in the often-inflated world of elite sports. She understands that behind every glamorous competition lies a foundation of mundane dedication and community support.
Mountains as Identity
The Colorado Rockies aren't merely a backdrop for Johnson's life story—they're woven into her fundamental identity. "I feel like Colorado is ingrained in who I am," she reflects with conviction. The state's rugged beauty and endless outdoor opportunities have profoundly shaped how she approaches both physical training and mental wellness. She genuinely cannot envision building a life anywhere that doesn't offer immediate access to mountain adventures and alpine experiences.
This deep connection to nature provides more than just an ideal training environment; it offers the serenity and perspective essential for maintaining psychological equilibrium in a sport where milliseconds separate triumph from disappointment. The outdoor lifestyle isn't simply what she does for a living—it's who she is at her core. The mountains teach patience, respect for natural forces, and the understanding that some things cannot be rushed—lessons that translate directly to the patience required for injury recovery and skill development.
For Johnson, self-care involves long hikes, quiet moments above treeline, and the simple act of being present in wild spaces. These practices provide balance to the high-intensity world of competitive skiing, where athletes repeatedly hurl themselves down steep slopes at breakneck speeds. The mountains offer a counterpoint to the controlled chaos of moguls competition, a place where she can reconnect with her motivations beyond medals and rankings.
A Journalist's Legacy
Perhaps the most poignant thread in Johnson's narrative is the legacy of her grandfather, a journalist who specialized in skiing coverage and who passed away just a few years before her Olympic debut in 2018. His connection to the sport transcended mere reporting—he witnessed and documented history in the making. Most remarkably, he wrote the very first article about the inaugural moguls competition at the 1992 Albertville Olympics, capturing the moment when Donna Weinbrecht and Edgar Grospiron claimed the discipline's first gold medals.
Johnson treasures this article, keeping it printed and framed as a tangible link between generations—a physical reminder that her Olympic journey fulfills a family destiny decades in the making. "He would have loved to see me compete," she says, acknowledging how her career has become a living continuation of her grandfather's passion for the sport. The symmetry is almost poetic: he documented moguls skiing's Olympic birth, while she now competes as the discipline has matured into a marquee event with complex aerial requirements and massive global viewership.
This multi-generational connection transforms her athletic pursuit into something far more profound than personal achievement. She carries forward a family legacy, honoring deep ties to skiing culture that predate her own existence. Every run down the moguls course becomes a tribute to the grandfather who helped introduce the sport to the world, a responsibility she embraces with pride rather than pressure.
The Power of Reflection
Throughout her challenging journey, Johnson has discovered the therapeutic power of journaling as a tool for mental clarity and emotional grounding. The practice helps her process the intense pressures of elite competition, navigate the disappointment of missing the Beijing Games, and maintain perspective during the grueling months of post-surgery rehabilitation. In a sport where mental fortitude proves just as critical as physical skill, writing provides a private space to confront fears, celebrate incremental victories, and stay connected to core motivations beyond external validation.
This reflective practice has become increasingly vital as she balances the competing demands of recovery, training, and competition preparation. The written word offers stability when everything else feels uncertain—a way to track progress that can't be measured in competition results or training metrics. For Johnson, journaling represents self-care in its most essential form, allowing her to show up as her best self both on and off the mountain.
The discipline of regular writing mirrors the discipline required for elite athletic performance. Both demand consistency, honesty, and the willingness to confront uncomfortable truths. Through journaling, Johnson has learned that vulnerability is not weakness but a source of strength, enabling her to process setbacks and emerge more resilient. This mental work has proven just as important as her physical rehabilitation in making her comeback possible.
Defying Medical Odds
The timeline of Johnson's recovery astonishes even seasoned sports medicine professionals. Spinal surgery in April 2023, followed by a return to elite competition by November of the same year, represents an extraordinarily aggressive rehabilitation schedule. Most athletes would require significantly longer recovery periods before subjecting their spines to the compressive forces of moguls skiing, where athletes absorb impact after impact while navigating tightly spaced bumps at high velocity.
Her successful comeback speaks not just to her physical conditioning but to her psychological determination. Every training run since her surgery has carried an element of risk, yet Johnson has progressed methodically, rebuilding both her technical skills and her confidence in her body's ability to withstand the sport's demands. The mental hurdle of trusting a surgically repaired spine while launching off jumps and absorbing mogul impacts cannot be overstated.
A Mature Perspective
As she prepares for her Olympic return, Johnson carries with her not just personal expectations, but the collective hopes of her family, her Vail community, and the journalistic legacy of her grandfather. The journey from spinal surgery to Olympic contender status in under two years demonstrates a resilience that rivals her technical skiing prowess. She no longer views the Olympics as an overwhelming force to be survived, but as an opportunity to be embraced—exactly the mindset that creates legendary Olympic moments.
At 25, Johnson competes not as the wide-eyed teenager of Pyeongchang, but as a mature athlete who understands both the cost and the value of pursuing excellence at the highest level. Her story reminds us that Olympic glory isn't just about the seconds of competition we see broadcast globally—it's about the years of setbacks, surgeries, silent struggles, and incremental progress that make those moments possible.
The Legacy Continues
As she heads to the Games, Johnson embodies a rare combination of athletic talent, family heritage, and hard-won wisdom. She understands that the greatest victories often come after the hardest falls, both literally on the moguls course and figuratively in the journey of life. Her grandfather's framed article serves as daily inspiration, connecting past to present and reminding her that she participates in a story much larger than individual achievement.
The moguls course awaits—a field of snowy bumps that has defined her life since childhood, challenged her body through injury and recovery, and now offers the stage for her triumphant return. With the weight of legacy on her shoulders and the wisdom of experience in her mind, Tess Johnson is ready to write the next chapter in her family's Olympic story.